Nuttby wind farm to start churning out power by next winter

Wind turbines should be churning out electricity from the top of Nuttby by this time next year, Colchester County Council heard Thursday night.

During a presentation by officials from Nova Scotia Power (NSP) to update the project's progress, council was told that start up is expected by late fall with wind farm in-service to follow in the winter of 2010/11.

Site clearing for the planned 22 turbines has been completed with road and site construction to begin this spring.

The turbines are expected to be delivered to the site by this summer, with tower erections to begin shortly after.

When the combined efforts of the Nuttby wind farm and other renewable energy projects that are either currently in service or in the works are factored together, the total amount of renewable generation in Nova Scotia will be about 16 per cent, Robin McAdam, NSP's executive vice-president of Sustainability told council.

That compares to about a 15 per cent-rate achieved by Germany, which he said has been working on larger renewable energy projects for a longer period than Nova Scotia.

"We feel like we're making good headway," he said. "By the end of the year we'll be keeping some good company."